Of Friendship and Brotherhood
by synomous01
Summary: Prequel to "Nirvana in Fire/琅琊榜". Emperor Xiao Xuan is emperor, ruling over the Liang Kingdom. Just a snippet of the daily life of Prince Jingyan and Lin Shu when they were younger.


**Note: Prequel to "Nirvana in Fire/琅琊榜". Emperor Xiao Xuan is emperor, ruling over the Liang Kingdom. Just a snippet of the daily life of Prince Jing and Lin Shu when they were younger.**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own "Nirvana in Fire/琅琊榜"**

 **Prince Jing**

Prince Jing had just turned 17 and now had his own manor, one that was selected by his elder brother, Prince Qi. Jingyan was excited. He wanted to see what it looked like already, but he wanted to wait for Xiao Shu to return from his mission with his father Lin Xie before going there.

Prince Jing felt very restless waiting. Time passed slowly it seemed. At least his mother had made some of his favorite, a hazelnut dessert. Jingyan picked one of the round flaky pastry from the side table beside him and chewed the dessert thoughtfully while "reading" the book in his hand. Though his eyes looked at the words, his mind did not comprehend anything he read.

It was boring without Xiao Shu around. Prince Qi, to whom Jingyan often spent his time shadowing him around, was now busy review reports from neighbouring countries. And his other brothers...particularly Jinghuan and Jingxuan, found him as tiresome as he found them. Prince Qi had always an expression after meeting with them, and said he felt slimy. Even though they were all brothers, there was certainly a disconnect between them.

The two most carefree that roamed the palace at times was Xiao Jingrui and Yan Yujin, his two younger cousins. One was 11 years old, the other was 10, and they were always a handful.

Jingrui always had so many questions. It boggled the mind sometimes that this child was a product of his Aunt Liyang and Xie Yu. The other two siblings seemed so much more tempered and mannered. Jingrui though, just had question after question. Everything that came out from his mouth seemed to be in the form of a question. Now Yujin… he was too mischievous, always playing games and saying things so pointedly. Jingyan always felt Yujin was lucky his father was the Marquis Yan, and his aunt was the Grand Empress. Prince Ji also favoured him. Very lucky kid, otherwise he was sure someone would have pummeled him by now.

While Prince Jing tolerated the two little monkeys, he had to grin when he thought of Xiao Shu's dealings with them. Prince Jing, as much as he thought the two kids were bothersome, he treated them with politeness. Xiao Shu… not quite so much. It was as if Yujin met his match in being frank. But Xiao Shu was never really rude about it, but it was just the smart way he would wrap the pointed response that would leave the two kids speechless.

Prince Jing sometimes understood too, Xiao Shu hated dealing with people who were either too dense to follow his conversations or just too annoying. Jingrui would put his best effort to always try to impress Xiao Shu, and Yujin would be simply following behind, looking annoyed that his best friend was being ignored or being treated badly.

Prince Jing at times wanted to tell the two of them that the fact Xiao Shu let them follow along was already a feat itself. Xiao Shu was often busy learning everything about the military, absorbing everything from his father. He was a responsible person, one that spent all his time on learning the ins and outs of protecting the country.

Although he often gave off the air of being carefree, Xiao Shu had a big responsibility, for just last year, he had formed his own battalion, the Chiyu. He spent a lot of his time training them, leading them on missions, all to protect Da Liang. He didn't have that much time for fun. Though when he did have fun… the Kingdom often went into an uproar. Thank the Heavens that great grandmother was around. Poor Xiao Shu would be punished severely by Lin Xie for his insolence. Perhaps that was why he was more busy lately, thought Jingyan. Lin Xie probably wanted Xiao Shu to be more focused, so with less time, Xiao Shu had less opportunity in being mischievous.

The plus side to being busy was the two rugrats couldn't follow along, at least not to the army camps. They were too young to go there. The two kids, Jingyan, knew were very bored. His elder brother, Prince Qi, however, took the time to take them around whenever he returned to the Capital. With so many matters of state, a family, Jingyan wondered how Jingyu found the time at all. Perhaps it was because he was efficient, he would bring the crown princess with him sometimes, while the two kids tagged along in the background.

Jingyan found that Jingrui and Yujin were a bit naive about most things in the court. At their age, Jingyan was exposed to much more of the workings of the battlefield already. Prince Qi was so patient with them. It was amazing at times. Xiao Shu wasn't too bad either. Despite his frankness, never crossed the line with the two of them. Prince Jing knew he cared about them, and in some ways, being obnoxious to them was a way to preserve their innocence. Questions Jingrui would ask about the borders, and certain Kingdoms, what Xiao Shu's opinion of it was. Xiao Shu would answer some of them, but then at one point, his answers would become more and more vague and eventually he would play tricks on them to make them go away.

Prince Qi, Jinyan thought dealt with it the same way as Xiao Shu, just without the tricks and annoyed looks. Because he was the crown prince and was much older than them, about 13 years in difference, the two were far more well behaved around him than Xiao Shu. But then again, Jingyan and Xiao Shu also looked up to him. Xiao Jingyu was a model prince. Smart, talented, kind, and a man with great morals and philosophy. Everyone liked him. What was there not to like?

Jingyan was growing impatient. Where was Xiao Shu? Why was he so late? They were suppose to go to the manor nearly an hour ago. There was the sound of laughter. A girl's laughter that echoed from the hallway. Ah. Mu Nihuang was here.

The three of them, Jingyan, Xiao Shu, and Nihuang had grown up together, so it was not unusual for Nihuang to with Xiao Shu. In Jinyan's opinion, if there was anytime that Xiao Shu had, he should spend it with her. The two were the perfect pair. But there was a part of Jingyan that wanted to just be him and Xiao Shu as well, a sort of just hanging out together like when they were younger. Jingyan knew he was being silly though. Xiao Shu and Nihuang were betrothed to each other. It made sense that they needed to spend more time together now since Xiao Shu did not have as much free time as before.

Today though, was Jingyan's birthday and he felt justified in his annoyance. Any other day, Jingyan would let it pass. But today… it was different! A best friend didn't forget another's birthday to spend time with their female companion. It was wrong. An unspoken code of of brotherhood.

"Jingyan! Xiao Jingyan!" said Xiao Shu enthusiastically as he stepped into the study room.

Jingyan chose then to ignore Xiao Shu and continued to eat his dessert and read the book. At the corner of his eyes, he could see that Xiao Shu's look turned to a worried one.

Good, Jingyan thought, he should be _worried_! He forgot my birthday and went out with Nihuang instead. What kind of friend did that?

Nihuang faced Jingyan, and waved one hand over his eyes curiously.

"What's wrong with Jingyan?" she asked uncertain with Jingyan's lack of acknowledgement they were in the room with him.

"I don't know…" said Xiao Shu, his forehead wrinkled up in thought. "We're clearly here…I see and hear you Nihuang… has Xiao Jingyan lost this because he's too old now?"

That only made Jingyan more angry. So he didn't forget, he just chose not to meet up on time with me.

"Oh well.. I guess we'll just have to make ourselves at home here," and with that, Xiao Shu plucked one of the hazelnut desserts from the open plate on the side table.

He was about to eat it, when Jingyan literally leapt out of his seat and knocked the dessert from his hand and cried, "Don't eat it!"

Jingyan had the look of absolute fear on his face. There was silence for a moment, and then Xiao Shu's face broke out into a cheshire smile and said, "Ha! So you _can_ see and hear us!" Nihuang let out a small laugh at that.

The fear on Jingyan's face turned into annoyance, and he humphed, ready to seat himself back down and continue reading his book. But stopped when he saw Nihuang hold out an intricately decorated long bow to him.

"Xiao Shu met with me to pick this up for you, it is made from one of the best craftsman in Yunan. Happy birthday" she said with a smile.

"Happy birthday Jingyan!" added Xiao Shu again with a grin on his face and clapped him around the shoulders.

Jingyan looked at gift and then smiled gratefully at his two friends. The jealousy that was there earlier dissipated immediately and he felt instantly foolish to have even thought anything like that in the first place.

"Thank you," he managed to say.

"Someone thought I forgot!" said Xiao Shu pointedly, but kindly knowing Jingyan could be sensitive at times. Birthdays were one of them.

"Well I thought… " Jingyan could feel his face start to get hot.

"Jingyan," Nihuang said suddenly, sensing Jingyan's embarrassment and his need for space, "I promised my father to look after Mu Qing today, so I can't stay too long."

Jingyan felt bad for his earlier conduct. It had been out of character of him as the three of them were good friends. "Are you sure you won't stay Nihuang? I wanted to show Xiao Shu something that Prince Qi selected for me."

"I will see it another time," she and Xiao Shu exchanged a private smile and look for a moment, "I will let the two of you catch up." and then she bowed and made her way out of the Qi Manor.

"So what did you want to show me?" Xiao Shu asked after a moment, giving Jingyan some time to recover from the moment.

"You won't believe it!" Jingyan said finally. And then he smiled, his eyes lighting up, "Come, Xiao Shu, I'll show you!"

Xiao Shu grinned and followed him.

 _ **"I'm 17 years old now. Father allowed me to have my own residence outside the palace. This place was chosen by elder brother. How is it? Come on!"**_

 _ **"Of course Prince Qi's choice would not be bad. I'm not like you. Even if I'm 17 years old, my father would not allow me to have my own residence."**_

 _ **"We're good brothers, what's mine is also yours."**_

 **End.**


End file.
